Entire New Build - Advice Welcomed!

WetDaddy

Or, "Advice Needed" would probably be more appropriate

So, I'm going to build a new box from scratch (with the exception of the monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, DVD drive, floppy drive & wifi card) and while I've decided on some componenets, I'm looking for advice on the others please.


I've decided on the following

Case: Antec P180B.
PSU: Seasonic S12 500W.
CPU: Core Duo E6600
RAM: 2 or 3GB (depending on overall price. Not sure about speeds. Suggestions?)
GPU: nVidia 8800GTS (possibly SLI-ing this later, but not for now)


As for the other parts, I'll start suggestions at these

Board: eVGA NVidia 680i SLI
HDD: 2xSATA 320GB drives @ 7200rpm


Smaller details:

My budget is in and around €1,500. I don't mind going over (or under!) that, as long as it's with purpose. I don't plan on doing any overclocking for now; the idea is that I'll build something that won't require it for the next while. SLI-ing the graphics card would be one thing I've panned. Both Komplett and Overclockers have a selection of E6600 / Motherboard / 2GB bundles, but I really can't tell if there's pitfalls in there! I'm not a *heavy* user, but I do have a 24" widescreen LCD which runs natively at 1920x1200, so I'd like to be able to run most current games at a high frame rate. I'm also planning on getting a bunch of rubber grommets, rubber PSU end-pieces and rubber fan mounts

So that's the lot. There's a strong chance that there'll be some incompatibilities above there as I'm certainly not as up to speed as a lot of you guys on this board, but hopefully ye can help me figure out *something* to waste my money on over the next few months I haven't priced many things yet, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I'd rather decide the system I want, then figure out the money issue than the other way around.

Oh, and on one other note, I need to *finally* get myself a decent set of screwdrivers and general PC tools. Maybe something like this kit from Maplin... Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
Seán

RazielDoomgate

to be honest id wait... lets see what ati will bring out with their dx10 card. as for a rough estimt you with those specs you be sending 1400.

but my only piont would be wait a month. vista is coming out then (you'll most likey get that and there will be better support for the dx10 cards and mybe mobos that do some cool new stuff) btw have you looked at teh http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-208-AS mobo?

awhir

since you got 1500

i would get a

eVGA NVidia 680i
Core Duo E6600
Seasonic S12 600W at least
nVidia 8800GTS or gtx
raptor performs better for games and single 320GB drive @ 7200rpm
or
2xSATA 320GB drives @ 7200rpm
2gb of cell shok p6400

thats just a fast idea that will probly go past 1500 but what the hell

awhir

dont bother with vista for a good while wil be very buggy and that striker is a rip there is another asus coming out which is also very good but without the "striker" on it

TonyM.

If you are not going to overclock wait for the Asus 650i mainboard and save €100 it will be available next month.
The core2duo is going to drop in price in three months time if you can wait you will save another €70.00
The 320gb drives are great value.

TonyM.

Full specifications - ASUS P5N-E SLI - motherboard - ATX - nForce 650i SLI Hide
Manufacturer: ASUSTek Computer Inc.
Part number: P5N-E SLI
General
Form factor ATX
Compatible Processors Celeron D, Pentium 4, Pentium D, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme
Chipset type NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI
BIOS type Award
Depth 9 in
Width 12 in
Audio
Audio Output Sound card
Sound Output Mode 5.1 channel surround
Features
BIOS Features ASUS EZ Flash 2, DMI 2.0 support, WfM 2.0 support, ASUS O.C. Profile, SMBIOS 2.3 support, Hyper-Threading Technology
Manual Settings CPU frequency, Memory voltage, Chipset voltage, Processor core voltage, PCI Express x16 slot frequency
Sleep / Wake Up Mouse wake up, Keyboard wake up, Wake on USB port, Wake on LAN (WOL), Wake on ring (WOR)
Hardware Features ASUS Q-Connector, CrashFree BIOS 2, ASUS SATA on the Go, Heat pipe chipset cooling, Chassis intrusion detection, C.P.R. (CPU Parameter Recall), NVIDIA SLI Technology Support
Cable(s) / Peripheral(s)
Cable(s) Included 1 Floppy cable, 2 IDE cable, 1 SLI bridge, 1 USB panel, Serial ATA cable
Expansion / Connectivity
Expansion Slot(s) Total (Free) 1 Processor LGA775 Socket, 4 Memory DIMM 240-pin, 2 PCI Express x16, 1 PCI Express x1, 2 PCI
Port(s) Total (Free) / Connector Type:Port(s) Total (Free) / Connector Type Port(s) Total (Free) / Connector Type 1 Audio Line-in:4 pin MPC, 1 Storage Floppy interface:34 pin IDC, 1 Parallel IEEE 1284 (EPP/ECP):25 pin D-Sub (DB-25), 1 IEEE 1394 (FireWire) 6 pin FireWire, 1 Audio SPDIF output:RCA, 1 Mouse Generic:6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style), 1 Keyboard Generic:6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style), 1 Network Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T:RJ-45, 6 Hi-Speed USB 4 pin USB Type A, 1 Storage ESATA:7 pin external Serial ATA, Audio Mini-phone 3.5 mm
Slot provided form factor LGA775 Socket, DIMM 240-pin
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous compliant standards RoHS, Plug and Play
Telecom / Networking
Networking Network adapter Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet
Modem / Comm. None
Modem type None
Processor
Processor Installed ( Max ):Processor Installed ( Max ) Processor Installed ( Max ) 0 1 Installed
Data bus speed 1333 MHz
Mainboard processor socket LGA775 Socket
Max processors supported 1
Video
Video Output None
Memory
Memory / RAM Installed ( Max ) 0 MB (8 GB max)
Supported RAM Technology DDR II SDRAM
Supported RAM Integrity Check Non-ECC
RAM features Unbuffered, Two DDR channels
Memory / Cache Type:Memory / Cache Type Memory / Cache Type None
Supported RAM Speed PC2-4300, PC2-5300, PC2-6400
Max supported RAM 8 GB
Storage Controller
Storage RAID (level) RAID 0 / RAID 1 / RAID 0+1 / RAID 5 / JBOD

WetDaddy

Cheers for the replies, everyone.

TonyM: Don't think I'll wait for the Core2Duo to drop in price. Thinking about it the other way around, I'd happily pay €70 for 3 months of a speedy PC I'll consider the 650i, but if it's all that's holding me back, I won't wait. I agree with you about the drives!

awhir: That's something like I was thinking alright. You really think 600W is necessary, though? The raptors are indeed nice, but being 10k rpm, they might be unnecessarily loud.

RazielDoomGate: Good point about ATI's DX10 card. I was thinking about that, but I think the wait might be a bit too long. And there's always the risk it mightn't be as good as the nVidia competitor.

Actually, on another note: I'm not really 'up to speed' (awful, awful pun) on what's involved in case fans, when it comes to varying their speed, plugging them into motherboard, providing them with power, etc. I mean, I understand the basics, but the P180b case has a bunch of fans on it, and I want to make sure I won't be missing out on anything, PSU or motherboard-wise.

Also, in terms of sound reduction, how much difference would, say, Zalman coolers make to the loudness of the CPU / Graphics card?

awhir

ok the antec fans on the p180 have 3 setting loud medium silent.for power you can pllug them into the mother board or with a molex adapter.

i would get a Zalman CNPS9500LED if you are buying form komplett.

i think the dx10 cards are silent so that out of the question.

the Seagate's are very quite.

that would be a very silent build in the p180.whish i was you

and yes the 600w is necessary in case you wanna add a sli or add more hdds.

also if i was you i would w8 for the new asus board its all ready out in the us.

WetDaddy

Cheers awhir. Glad to hear it's a good chance of being as quiet as I intend it to be (that's why I picked those parts at the top!). Was thinking I might even go for some Western Digital Caviars; WD's have a rep for being quite quiet.

Also, just realised I'll have to get me a new DVD drive at some stage. One that doesn't attempt to launch itself to the moon every time you run explorer

awhir

deathfunk wrote:

Also, just realised I'll have to get me a new DVD drive at some stage. One that doesn't attempt to launch itself to the moon every time you run explorer

lol

that should be Firefox

go for the seagates there better.

have a look for sata dvd drives now don't get a ****ty ide..............

think light on or something do them.

WetDaddy

Alrighty, so attached here is a proposed basket from Overclockers. And that's without shipping to Ireland (let's say... €20 more to be safe?).

Does that make people clap their hands or throw up their own pelvis?

Richard Dower

OCUK sucks because of the Sterling price, try Komplett or Dabs for your needs...memory-configurator.com is great for memory and PSU's.

WetDaddy

Cheers Richard, thought about Dabs and Komplett (if I had my way, I'd get everything from Komplett!), but I'm just worried about shipping and timing costs with ordering from a bunch of places.

Need to have a proper scour through Dabs though, so thanks for the heads up!

Buzz_Irl

This might help you decide - I got this from ankermann and then got an 88oogtx from komplett. I got this for the same as you are looking at an 8800gts rig !

Only caveat is that I havnt had to use ankermann's return service. This is the second machine i got from them and service was excellent.

If you want to OC then u will need to replace the intel cpu cooler with a zalman or equiv - but u dont really need to OC the gpu or cpu for some time yet

Buzz

Order
Item: 1
Article Nr: cpu_intel_duo
Article Name: System: INTEL Core 2 Duo 1,86Ghz<br> E6300 FSB1066 S.775 2MB
Equipment:
- INTEL Core 2 Duo E6600 2,40Ghz FSB 1066 S.775 2x2MB: EUR 149.99
- ASUS P5NSLI - nForce4 SLI (P/S/GBL/R/SATAII/DDRII): EUR 98.50
- PCI-e 256MB NVidia GeForce 6200 TV-out & DVI: EUR 0.00
- IDE 300 GB MAXTOR 6L300R0 (16MB cache-7200rpm): EUR 51.90
- 256MB DDR-II RAM G-Skill CL4 533MHz
- DDR-II upgrade from 256MB to 1024MB TRANSCEN PC667: EUR 79.90
- DDR-II RAM 1024MB TRANSCEN PC667: EUR 99.90
- LIGHTSCRIBE SAMSUNG 16x DVD-RW DL SH-S162L/BEBN (CaseColor): EUR 32.90
- CD-RW Liteon 52x/32x/52x LTR-52327S & Software: EUR 30.00
- Aspire X-plorer Midi-Tower - Black: EUR 69.00
- Intel CPU cooler
- 550W LC-Power LC6550H 12cm: EUR 25.00
- Realtek ALC888 8 channel audio
- 10/100 Ethernet LAN
Amount: 1
preis: EUR 1.036,00

Total value of goods (Net): EUR 893,10
VAT (16%): EUR 142,90
Total value of goods (Gross): EUR 1.036,00

Payment Method: Credit Card (add EUR 39,00 shipping UPS)


General Terms and Conditions: I have read and accepted your General Terms and Conditions

Billing Amount: EUR 1.075,00

WetDaddy

Cheers Buzz, appreciate the effort. I don't seem to be able to get "no" case with Ankermann though, and they don't have the Antec P180B. Same for the PSU and motherboard

Question for you guys: Anyone know if there's a difference between the nforce4 680 and the nforce4 680i motherboards?

Thanks!

awhir

get cheaper ram that dominator is a waste of money.just get some 6400 ram and then ya can get a gtx.

Richard Dower

G.SKILL HZ is highly rated, mine does 1000MHz with 2.2V @ 4-4-4-12.

DirkVoodoo

Deathfunk, a small word on ordering from multiple sites.

As with all retailers, it pays to shop around and compare prices. I ordered my rig from komplett and overclockers, picking the lowest priced, equivalent component from each site. Factoring in shipping (which overclockers charged a criminal ~50 euro for, komplett was about 20) i managed to save nearly 100 euro over purchasing from either vendor alone.

Remember, just play around with the numbers, OCUKs sterling is annoying, thank god the conversion can be roughly calculated by value_euro=1.5*(value_sterling) in your head.

Good luck with the build, and stick to 2GB of corsair value RAM, unless you plan to overclock, or just 2GB of RAM of your choice, no point going 3GB for gaming.

WetDaddy

Cheers DirkVoodoo, appreciate the advice. Will definitely stick with a simple (and cheaper!) approach to the RAM, since I don't plan on overclocking anytime soon.

I'm on the same wavelength as you regarding shopping around. The other side of the coin, however, is that I could end up paying multiple shipping charges if I order from multiple vendors. Plus, the big downside is that it'll all come in dribs and drabs... To be honest, I've dealt with Komplett many times before and have always been really happy with their service, but unfortunately they're out of 2 of the components I want (PSU & case)...

quazzy

I order my Seasonic 500W PSU and Antec P180 case from dabs.ie for the same reason.

Everything else was purchased on komplett.ie

DirkVoodoo

Yeah komplett are very easy to deal with (so far for me, touch wood). I got lucky in that both my orders arrived within a few minutes of each other (it was the day when Argentina played Germany in the WC).

I remember OCUK requested a fax of utility bills to verify the credit card, fair enough but a real pain in the balls compared to the komplett approach.

Best of luck with the rig, keep us posted!